Limbo Nintendo Switch review – A really good puzzle/platformer that could have been even better

Join with me as I talk about what I had seen as one of the biggest surprises to me that had been ported to the Switch with “Limbo”. This was a game that had caught my attention some time ago, and being interested in it, but never had gotten around to actually picking up the game.

Playdead has managed to create a really awesome and impressive atmosphere in “Limbo”.

Now that I have had the pleasure of playing through the game, and then realizing that I had played the games in reverse. Where “Inside” (don’t miss out on our Nintendo Switch review for “Inside!”) is the spiritual successor to “Limbo”, what they were aiming to do was clear and very much present.

“Limbo” is not the kind of title that holds your hand throughout the whole game, and I’m perfectly happy with that. Why? Because I truly enjoy the challenges that “Limbo” has to offer (such as the game’s hard puzzles, for example).

There isn’t much that could be said about Limbo’s story though. I mean, sure. The story does let you know what was going on by the end of the game of course, and everything does fit nicely. Nevertheless, that wasn’t the focus for “Limbo”, and what was their focus does show very brightly. Yes, I’m talking about the puzzles and how the game plays, and that is something that I would want from any game dev, and Playdead does it very well.

The world of “Limbo” is all painted in black and white. I’m of course aware that it might not sound very visually impressive as such, but it actually fits the game really well.

I ran into several puzzles that had kept me in a single place for much longer than I would ever like to admit. You see, a number of the puzzles requires that you have a 100% perfect timing in-order to complete the said puzzle, and sometimes having to manipulate something in just the right way in order to have a chance at the perfect timing. Then you got a handful of enemies that forces you to work rather hard to find a way to get around them.

Make no mistake, there are a lot of dangers and deadly creatures to be found in the world of “Limbo” (death lures around every corner!). So be sure to watch your step!

As for visuals, the world of “Limbo” is all painted in black and white. So in a way, the game pretty much let’s the player experience what it’s like to be inside in one of those really old black-and-white movies from the early and mid 1900s. Well, I think you get the idea. As I was saying. There are so many directions that an atmosphere can be created in that medium that just doesn’t work for a full-color feature. There was very little that I didn’t like what was done in “Limbo”, and I am looking forward to what else we will be seeing in the future.

Limbo’s gameplay is intense and tight to the max, and there’s even some jump scares to be found here and there as well.

However, I would like to point out that one of the few cons which I could think of when it comes to “Limbo” is that I wish the game had offered a more interactive kind of story. Other than that though, “Limbo” offers a really good and exciting puzzle/platform gameplay experience. So if you like to play puzzle and platform games on your Switch, then you might want to pick up “Limbo” as soon as possible.

Pros:
+ Hard puzzles
+ What little music there it was good
+ Tight gameplay
+ No hand holding
+ The atmosphere created was well done

Verdict: 3.5/5
The praise that “Limbo” received when it was first published was very justified. So while the game is doing a good job of creating a narrative and gameplay that in ways are new, or twisted in different directions. I feel like “Limbo” would have been a much better gameplay experience if the game had offered a more interactive kind of story. Nevertheless, “Limbo” is still a very well-made, fun and creative puzzle-platformer So if you haven’t picked up “Limbo” yet, then you’re doing yourself a disservice for sure.